Pieces fit like a glove at Penn State School of Music’s Mosiac show

Brian Nagle is going to have to do more than just play the bassoon Sunday at Eisenhower Auditorium.

The Penn State graduate student will be performing with four different ensembles at the school of music’s annual Mosiac show. The event is a combination of many shorter performances that are woven together, moving from the stage to the balconies to the walls.

So Nagle will have to run from location to location to make sure he is ready to play on time.

“I’ll have to be a quick-change artist and a musician at the same time,” he said.

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The show features the best the school of music has to offer and usually is the largest attended performance of the year, said Russell Bloom, assistant to the director of the school of music. He said the top 5 percent of the students in the school are selected to perform.

Two 90-minute sessions, separated by a short intermission, will include all types of music, from classical to brass quartets, Bloom said. He described it as a “fast-paced, dynamic program.”

Bloom enjoys watching the show each year, saying that he is always amazed by the level of student talent to pull everything off.

“When you put it all together its like ‘Wow,’ ” he said. “It’s really quality across the board.”

The ensemble faculty begins planning and holding auditions weeks before the event to give themselves time to put everything together. Bloom said piecing it together is like a puzzle, and they use the acoustics of the room to create a surround sound-type experience.

The crew will have an all-day dress rehearsal before the event to put everything together, Nagle said.

Nagle, who has been playing the bassoon since he was 12, said this is one of his favorite events where he gets the chance to play. Getting to the concert performance level takes many hours of work and practice, he said, but the important thing is to utilize good teachers to make sure to practice correctly.

He hopes to either move into teaching or continue to perform on a concert level.

Tickets for the 4 p.m. Sunday show can be purchased at Eisenhower Auditorium at $25 for adults and $10 for students.